How So Me Created a ‘Fantasized Version’ of the Dance Scene For His New Film ‘Banger’

A feature film by artist, graphic designer, music video director and Ed Banger Records’ longtime art director So Me is out today (April 1) on Netflix.

Banger tells the story of an aging French DJ named Scorpex, played by French actor Vincent Cassel. Scorpex gets mixed up in a mission with an intelligence agency that provides him with what he believes is the chance to return to the top with the movie’s titular banger. The film also stars Laura Felpin and features an appearance by French dance royalty Kavinsky. Watch the trailer for Banger below.

The French language film expands an episode that So Me, born Bertrand Lagros de Langeron, directed for the 2021 French television series 6 X Confiné.e.s. This episode also starred Cassel as Scorpex, with So Me later writing the film based around the character.

“I was already contemplating a movie in this world, and the opportunity of shooting the [episode] came a little bit after actually,” So Me tells Billboard. “So in a way, the [episode] is a spinoff that came out before the movie itself.”

He adds that the bumbling but endearing Scorpex “generates empathy because we’re all sooner or later confronted with a cooler, younger version of ourselves. And it’s particularly true in a job where most of the audience is, well, young. Some DJs deal with it perfectly, some struggle a bit more, and I look at it with a certain tenderness.”

Having worked with many DJs over the years, So Me says these artists have “all inspired me, that’s for sure. However, I would say [Scorpex] is more of a composite. This scene is just so ripe for satire. It’s a lot of egos. And it’s pretty competitive.”

After spending years directing videos for artists including Justice (“D.A.N.C.E.”, “Audio, Video Disco”) Major Lazer (“Get Free”), Kid Cudi (“Day ‘N’ Nite”) and Kanye West (“Good Life”), So Me says making a movie was “always been a dream” of his.

“There’s a lot of common things: Framing,  lightning, turning ideas into moving images,” he says of the commonalities between making videos and making this movie. “However, there are also some major differences, such as directing actors, basically telling a more complex story. Music videos are more of a place to experiment, but having shot a lot of things already probably put me at ease to attack the climbing of such a high peek.”

But while making a feature length film was new, So Me certainly had a lot of life experience to draw from in terms of telling a story that takes place within the DJ world of clubs, parties and studios.

“I hope [the film] shows an educated version of how things actually happen in the studio, backstage, et cetera,” he says. “My goal was that people who are in the know would find it credible, however showing how it really is would be extremely boring for people who don’t know. So it’s a fantasized version of this world that aims at feeling real.”